Take part: 226 kilometers for iThemba

Lufthansa flight attendant Riitta Knodt dedicates her participation at Ironman Frankfurt to the help alliance project in South Africa

True to the motto “Meter by meter, stone by stone”, Riitta Knodt is taking part in the Ironman in Frankfurt on 30 June and is collecting donations for the school extension in the help alliance project iThemba. In one of the poorest townships in Cape Town

help alliance in the iThemba primary school in Capricorn near Muizenberg currently provides around 210 children with an excellent education. When all construction stages have been completed in a few years, the primary school will offer space for 700 girls and boys. And this is urgently needed, because more than 2,000 children still live without a school place in the socially and economically disadvantaged suburb of the South African tourist metropolis.

Sport for the good cause

Riitta Knodt has been a Lufthansa flight attendant for 33 years – she has seen the world. “But for me, Cape Town is the most beautiful city in the world. My commitment to iThemba at the Ironman in Frankfurt brings my three heartfelt concerns together: Children, sport and my favourite city”.

Born in Finland, she studied education in her home country and teaches preschool children. “I’ve been doing sport ever since I can think. I was a member of the Lufthansa ski team for twelve years and we were very successful at the European and World Airliner Championships. In my youth, I successfully did athletics and skiing,” she says. She has already taken part in the Ironman, the supreme triathlon discipline, nine times: 3.8 kilometres of swimming, 180 kilometres of cycling and, finally, the marathon distance of 42.2 kilometres, i.e. eleven and a half hours of top physical performance. In 2016 she became vice European champion at the Ironman in Frankfurt and finished 21st at the legendary Ironman World Championships in Hawaii.

“I want to associate my sport with the good thing and every drop of sweat is worth it if I can help the children of iThemba with it”. In November 2018 she visited iThemba Primary School for the first time. “I was totally excited about the children and the project. We organized a small triathlon workshop and did relay races with the children. In February 2019 there were already more than 200 students at my second visit. I look forward to the next time.”

When it says “Ready, steady, Go” on June 30th in Frankfurt am Main, the children of iThemba will certainly keep their fingers crossed for her.